Practitioner Profile of:

8/14/2019 Practitioner Profile of:

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Practitioner Profile of:

James McInerneyIT DirectorThe Pinnacle Charter School

Interviewed by John Bunker

At the Pinnacle Charter School, James McInernery finds himself in more demand than a life preserver on the Titanic. As the Director of Information Technology at The Pinnacle Charter School, James seems to have more on his plate at one time as I have ever seen. When not working on the installation of a new Citrix ZenServer, mentoring new teachers, and developing new technology curriculums, he takes care of every technology issue throughout a school of 1,800 students and over 400 computers. Mr. McInerney is continually expected to be your everyday technology superman. Over the past year and a half, I have been fortunate enough to get to know this technology firefighter both professionally and personally. The McInerney family made the jump over the pond from England about five years ago to settle down in Greeley. Over pints of fine ale in their back deck, listening to their many farm animals, I was grateful for this time to sit down and talk to him about the actual field of educational technology.

Q: How did you get into the field of educational technology? Well, in England, teachers coordinate specific areas of the school, such as curriculum planning,

assessment, purchasing, and the like. While working as a primary teacher, I showed a great deal of

interest in computers and was given this area of responsibility. Once the “IT” in appeared in my job title,

I carried it with me through changing schools during my eighteen years of teaching.

Q: What is your actual educational background? I received a Bachelors of Education in Primary Ed from West London Institute of Higher Education, part of

Brunel University now. I received what is called an Honors Degree which would be equivalent to a

Masters here.

Q: Tell me more about how you drifted from general education to technology? When I came to U.S., I started working as a first grade teacher at Pinnacle. I began taking kids in to the

computer lab and invited to administration to see some of the fantastic work they were producing. Upon

this, the administration made me the full time computer teacher for elementary. After that year, I

presented them with a five year development plan for improving the schools technology program, and

they gave me the job as IT Director.



Q: How would you describe your current role as the IT Director? Do you do anything now that you never dreamed of doing? The role has become more of a tech role than educational one. This is mainly due to the big XenServer

install currently taking place and only having one other full time IT person on staff. Focusing on making

technology available

to

the

school

is

the

top

priority

right

now.

Hopefully,

this

will

shift

back

to

more

of

the education side soon. Helping teachers integrate technology into their everyday classrooms is where

my passion lies. Integration of technology is really the key. I’d like to get away from having tech classes

in our school, and work directly with the teachers to improve instruction with these tools. In England,

you would never find computers or technology as a stand ‐alone subject. It is actually a requirement that

it be integrated.

Q: Over time, what would you say have been some of the significant changes or developments in educational technology? When we first had computers 18 yrs ago, it was sufficient enough to have them. Then the government

decided computers

were

primarily

being

used

as

word

processors

and

a waste

of

money.

They

came

into

the schools and made the teachers learn the technology and how to use it. As the teachers began to use

it, the students began to expect it. A laptop was provided to every teacher in England, and this really

energized the teachers to use technology in their instruction. The government also began to provide

funding to schools in the form of “e‐credits” which could only be spent on improving technology. Now,

ninety percent of classrooms there have interactive whiteboards and they are being used to their

capacity. The English government has taken a very holistic view to education and has gone as far as

setting specific rations for the number of students per computer.

Q: How do you stay current with educational technology trends? What do you see as being the current trends? Mostly just by reading the internet, newspapers, and talking to the kids. Finding out firsthand from the

actual kids about what they are doing with technology has been very enlightening. My mailbox always

seems to be stuffed with information from companies as well.

I’d have to say the hottest trends are multisensory teaching which brings in interactive whiteboards and

data collection processes such as clickers.

Q: What obstacles to bringing technology into our schools do you see? The

curriculum

doesn’t

lend

itself

to

as

well

to

technology.

It

is

so

prescriptive

which

allows

for

technology to be used as an information gathering tool, but until we allow the children to present their

findings in multiple ways such as podcasts, PowerPoints, and digital videos, it won’t change. Typed,

filmed, podcasts, PowerPoints…in most classes, kids aren’t allowed to do it.

Q: How do you think we could overcome these obstacles best?



More of the actual teacher education in college needs to focus on the integration aspect. We also need

to ensure that our replacement program doesn’t allow us to fall into the problem of the students having

better technology at home than they have access to at school. It’s critical for the school infrastructure to

stay up to date and be well maintained.

Q: What do you think is the most effective way to introduce technology into the regular classroom? High quality hardware, network structure, knowing a limited amount of programs very well, and every

program a bit. It’s important to build up the confidence with students, and it snowballs. If the

technology doesn’t work, they won’t use it again. The best program for helping the teachers is the three

lesson plan. You teach first as a model, team‐teach the second lesson, and evaluating their instruction

for the third. It’s as simple as coaching.

Q: What qualities do you think are important for someone entering the field of educational technology to possess? How important are the technical skills vs. what we refer to as “soft skills?” The

ideal

situation

is

to

have

some

high

tech

people

and

some

with

those

soft

skills.

Typically

they

don’t

go hand in hand with the same person. It really isn’t a one person job in schools. Bring “techie” people

in with more “people” people, you get a better total package. It’s difficult to have experience in each of

the sides, teaching and technology because of the high level of skill needed in each area today.

James and I continued to discuss some of the ways we may be able to improve the overall technology integration plan at our school. His background in the English school system brings an interesting perspective to the table when thinking about how we might enjoy the same success. We share many common views when it comes to the importance of technology integration in our schools today. I think the strongest of these is ensuring teachers are given the resources and training needed to use the technology in the most effective way to improve student learning. Unfortunately, not enough time is focused on the integration, but simply to keep the systems up and running. Schools and universities need to provide more opportunities for teachers to learn to best practice approaches to using computers and technology in the classroom. Perhaps a more holistic view of education may help us overcome some of these barriers and better the education of all students. James McInerney not only demonstrates his ability to manage each and every technology crisis that might arise at our school, but he shows great vision and leadership to drive us forward in educational technology.

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